Khubani ka meetha/Apricot Fool

Khubani/Qubani ka meetha is an authentic and very traditional Hyderabadi desert recipe. Made of dried apricots, it is served especially during weddings. Khubani/Qubani is an urdu word which means 'Apricot' and Meetha translates to 'Sweet'. This desert  involves boiling apricots with syrup until they assume the consistency of a thick soup or compote. The dessert is then topped with blanched almonds or apricot kernels, and is traditionally garnished with malai (thick cream from Buffalo milk), and also with custard or ice cream.This recipe was challenged to the SNC north group by Roha of Hyderabadi cuisine. 
I decided to try this classic desert with custard and name it an Apricot Fool.
A fool is one of the quickest, easiest, and most awesomely named desserts that we know. Dating as far as the sixteenth century, a Fool is a classic English dessert and is believed to earn the name from a French word 'fouler' which means 'to mash' or 'to press'. A fruit fool begins by making a puree from fresh, dried or frozen fruit. Traditionally a  fool is a delicious mixture of lightly sweetened and pureed fruit with sweet custard. Modern recipes skip the custard and use whipped cream.

  

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (75-80 gms) dried Apricots/Khubani
• 2-3 tbsp sugar
• 1 clove
• 1 green cardamom
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp vanilla custard powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp sugar (for making the custard)

Procedure:

Wash and soak dried apricots overnight. 

Remove and reserve the liquid for later use(It will have a lovely golden brown tinge)

De-seed and remove the apricot kernel.

Remove the nut inside the seed with the help of a nut cracker or with a pestle. You will find a small almond shaped nut inside which you may blanch in boiling water to remove the skin or keep some just as it is for decoration.

Take a non stick saucepan over medium heat, add the reserved liquid(used for soaking) and the apricots. Allow to boil.

Add clove and slightly crushed cardamom and let it simmer for 10-15 mins.

Add sugar and stir. Mash the apricots and cook till the mixture becomes thick and mushy. This is the apricot compote.

Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, make vanilla custard. Boil milk and add sugar. Take a small bowl and dissolve custard powder with a little cold milk/water. Add this to the boiling milk and stir well. Allow to Cool.

 

Assembling:

Take a bowl/glass and make desired layers of the apricot compote and vanilla custard. 

Garnish with some chopped apricot nut and whole nuts(with skin).

Note:

• Be careful while adding sugar as it may vary with the variety of apricots used or with individual taste.

• You may serve the Khubani/apricot compote with whipped cream, ice cream or even thick cream/malai.

• You may garnish with some almonds and pista.

 

 

 
Happy Khubani Fool Eating
Amrita

Vellam Appam/Jaggery Pancake

I think children are like pancakes. You sort of ruin the first one, and you get better at it the second time around.
Kelly Ripa 

Pancakes are one of the most versatile food. Found in almost all cultures and their cuisines, pancakes are both sweet and savoury. Eaten mostly at breakfast, pancakes are a rage worldwide and are considered a quick and easy option. It is amazing to see the variety of pancakes, with unique regional grains, fillings and toppings.
Vellam Appam/Jaggery Pancake is traditional to South India. It is somewhat similar to the 'Meetha Pooda' eaten in Punjab where the batter is made from whole wheat flour and jaggery. Food truly is the common thread among all cultures!!
This month SNC challenge for the month was suggested by Shama nagarajan who blogs from Shama's easy 2 cook recipes. I adapted the recipe and made some changes to suit my palate.


Ingredients: For 4 medium sized 

• 2 tbsp boiled rice(Note: this does not mean rice which is boiled. It is a variety of rice you will get in stores selling South Indian groceries. Use normal rice if you cannot get this variety)
• 2 tbsp rice
• 1 tsp urad dal
• Jaggery-lemon sized
• 1/2 tsp fennel/saunf powder

Procedure: 
Wash and soak both kinds of rice and urad dal for 2 hours.
Grind to a smooth paste using little water.
Take jaggery in a pan and dissolve in some water on medium flame till the mixture becomes thick.
Cool and add this syrup to the ground rice and dal mixture. Add fennel/saunf powder.
Heat a non stick deep pan/kadhai. Pour a small ladle of this mixture and spread it by moving the vessel. 
Add a spoonful of oil and let it cook on low flame,covered with a lid.
Let it cook till golden brown in colour, turn and cook the other side too. 
Remove and serve while it is hot and crispy!!

Only a week left for our 1st Anniversary Celebration 3 amazing Book Giveaway!! 

Happy Pancake eating
Amrita

Vadakari-my first for SNC challenge

“Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”

Challenges!!

Challenges make you re-discover yourself and help you to grow irrespective of succeeding or failing.  Challenges make us realize our own strengths and weaknesses, our likes and dislikes. They help and make us try things beyond our area of comfort. And they certainly are a true test and an eye-opener of our capabilities. 

No wonder you are seeing me soaked in all sorts of food challenges nowadays !! There is a different sense of exhilaration in being able to participate and complete them. The SNC challenge is the newest on my repertoire!! Brainchild of Divya who blogs from you too can cook food, this is quite a novel challenge where we have teams divided into northern and southern. I naturally belonged to the northern team being a Sikh and hailing from the city of joy, Kolkata. Teams are challenged with region specific food and are given a month to complete. This months challenge was given by Ramya who blogs from lemonkurry.

Vadakari was never heard by me lest try it. But being a challenge, it was finally attempted and was such a hit at home. We all unanimously loved the vadas. My husband loved the vadakari which was these same vadas crumbled and put in gravy. My darling daughter all of 20 months munched away to these vadas in glory. 

Ingredients:
Vadas:

• 100 gms Bengal gram/chana dal
• 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds/saunf
• 2 dried red chillies
• 3 garlic pods
• 1/2 small sized onion, chopped
• salt to taste
• oil for frying

Gravy:

• 1 1/2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tbsp fennel seeds/saunf
• 1/2" cinnamon stick
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• a pinch of garam masala powder
• salt to taste

Procedure:

Vadas:

Soak bengal gram for around an hour. Grind it along with the listed ingredients to a coarse paste. Add water as required but not too much.

Heat oil for frying.

Shape the vada batter into thin small roundels and fry them till they get a nice brown colour.

Eat them as a lovely snack with tea leaving some for the gravy. 

Gravy:
Heat oil in a pan, add fennel seeds, mustard seeds and cinnamon. Add chopped onions and saute for few minutes. Add tomatoes and cook till it leaves oil. Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and salt. Add some water to get the required consistency of gravy. 
Add the crumbled vadas and adjust the consistency of the gravy as vadas absorb water.
Serve garnished with chopped fresh coriander.
Served usually with rice, idlis, dosa or chapatis. 

Linking this dish to Kolkata Food Bloggers ongoing event 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari'.

Happy Vada/Vadakari eating
Amrita